Dear Friends,

Since the never-ending news cycle has us all gasping for air, it’s hard to recall what life was like last week—let alone last year. Still, it will be a while before we forget this past November 4. For one, it’s not every day that a politician opens a victory speech quoting Eugene V. Debs. But it was not just New Yorkers and their new mayor, Zohran Mamdani, who had something to celebrate. That same day, on the other side of the Atlantic, the cabinet of Pedro Sánchez, Spain’s Prime Minister, voted to grant Spanish citizenship to some 170 children and grandchildren of International Brigaders, including several members of our own ALBA family. The vote, which followed a stipulation included in the 2022 Law of Democratic Memory, acknowledged not only the Brigadistas’ commitment to antifascist internationalism, but also their descendants’ steadfast defense of that cause.

The gesture is symbolic, to be sure. But it is also defiant. After all, rightwing forces around the world are actively seeking to demonize, and even criminalize, the antifascist struggle then and now. This trend has had a chilling effect not only on civil liberties—including First Amendment rights—but also academic freedom, as Spanish Civil War historians Mark Bray and Kirsten Weld have experienced first-hand (see their interviews on pp. 4-8).

In this context, it is all the more important to connect our present fights with the past. Young people struggling against authoritarianism today should know about their precursors from the 1930s; they should know that they are not alone in history. At the No Kings protest in San Francisco, children of Lincoln vets proudly carried the banner of the VALB’s Bay Area post (see back cover). If you run into anyone looking for inspiration, have them read David Bacon’s reassessment of Tina Modotti as a political activist (p. 12), Tom King’s touching story about his family connections to the Dutch anti-Nazi resistance (p. 14), Lindsey Swindall’s piece on the lessons we can learn from Paul Robeson (p. 16), or Carter Barnwell’s report on early antifascists at New York’s City College (p. 18). Also, filmmaker Miguel G. Morales speaks about his gripping short film about Cuban volunteers in Spain (p. 10), while our Spanish soccer correspondent, Dean Burrier Sanchis, gives an update on the recovery of antifascist memory at the Valencian club Levante. Our recurring archival feature Arkivo recovers a little-known but powerful text by Joris Ivens, the director of The Spanish Earth. (As always, we have even more stories and reviews in our online edition at albavolunteer.org.)

Making this magazine every three months is as fun as it is stressful. Every time we send an issue to press, we are secretly a bit surprised that we managed to pull it off once again. But even more than surprised, we are grateful: to our authors—and to you, our readers, without whom none of this would be possible. We ask you a special favor: please consider forwarding a copy of, or a link to this issue of The Volunteer to some young people in your circle; people who might draw strength from knowing more about the deep history of antifascism. Thanks so much for your support.

¡Salud!

Sebastiaan Faber & James D. Fernández, editors

P.S. Did you know that you can set up a monthly donation in support of our ongoing educational work?